The 2026–2027 heating season in Nizhny Novgorod began on September 21, 2026: on that day, Mayor Shalabayev Yuri signed a resolution on turning on the heat.[1] By September 29, all of the city's municipal heat sources had been put into operation.[2] Warm radiators reach an apartment later than the boiler house is started up: it takes up to two weeks to warm up the extensive networks, and tuning the in-building systems takes another two to three weeks, so in the first days of October some buildings remained cold.[3][4][5]
When the heat was turned on
The heating season begins after the average daily air temperature has not risen above +8 °C for five days in a row.[6] Trial firings at the city's boiler houses took place from September 1 to 15.[6] By September 17, Joint Stock Company "United Utility Operator", which is in charge of most of the city's heat supply, had connected heating on request in more than twenty kindergartens, hospitals, and sanatoriums.[1]
In early September, some Nizhny Novgorod residents complained of the cold in their apartments: on the night of September 8, the temperature dropped to +8 °C, and during the day it held at +13–14 °C. The city administration refrained from turning on the heat early at that time, citing a forecast of a return to warm weather — forecasters promised up to +20 °C as early as September 10.[6]
From September 21, the heat-transfer fluid began to flow first of all to schools, hospitals, and kindergartens, after which it was directed to residential buildings, public buildings, and industrial enterprises.[7] The mayor warned that warming up the system does not happen instantly: time is needed to fill the networks with heat-transfer fluid and to remove air locks from the risers.[8]
According to the CEO of JSC OKO, Dmitry Sivokhin, more than half of the heat sources are brought into operation within a single day, while the remaining boiler houses need another two to three days; at the initial stage, the duty shifts of emergency repair crews were reinforced.[7] From September 21 to October 5, a hotline was in operation: City Hall published the contact details of the utility providers and home management companies of Nizhny Novgorod and Kstovsky District.[7]
A year earlier, the heating season in the city began on September 23.[6]
How Many Buildings Have Been Heated
In the first five working days, heat from the boiler houses was supplied to 6,695 apartment buildings and 848 social-sector institutions. By the evening of September 25, 278 heat sources were in operation; the social facilities connected included 380 kindergartens, 209 schools, 152 healthcare institutions, 58 institutions of higher and secondary education, 20 institutions of supplementary education, and 29 social welfare facilities.[3]
On September 29, the mayor announced that all municipal heat supply sources had been brought into operation, and that kindergartens, schools, and hospitals had received heat first. Some outstanding issues remained as of that day at several small departmental generation facilities.[2]
Why Radiators Stay Cold After Heat Is Switched On
It can take up to two weeks from the moment a heat source is switched on for heat to reach the consumer: this is how extended heat supply systems work.[3] After startup, home management companies spend another two to three weeks tuning the in-building systems — adjusting the risers and bleeding the air out of them, without which heat is distributed unevenly throughout the building.[4]
By October 6, a little over two weeks after the start, complaints about the cold were still coming in from Kozitsky, Gorlovskaya, and Respublikanskaya streets in Sovetsky District, from Rozhdestvenskaya, Volodarsky, and Usilov streets in Nizhegorodsky, from Sovetskaya, General Zimin, Lesnoy Gorodok, and Vitebskaya streets in Kanavinsky, from Novosovetskaya Street in Sormovo, from Berezovskaya Street in Moskovsky, and from Gagarin Avenue in Prioksky. In some buildings there was no heat at all; in others, the radiators were not warming up in individual entryways.[5]
The heating systems are being adjusted by shutting off the supply riser and bleeding air out of it. This removes air from the system, and all the radiators fill with water.[4]
What temperature an apartment is supposed to have
During the heating season, the air temperature in living rooms must be at least +18 °C (at least +20 °C in corner rooms), +18 °C in the kitchen, +20 °C in the bathroom, and at least +16 °C on stairwells and in shared corridors.[9]
Interruptions in heating are permitted within established limits: no more than one day in total per month, and up to 16 hours at a time, taking into account the actual temperature in the room. [9] A report about missing or insufficient heat is taken by the building's management company; at the start of the season, hotlines on heating startup issues were operating in every district of the city.[3][7]
Sources
- Kommersant (Volga Region) — In Nizhny Novgorod, the 2026–2027 heating season will begin on September 21
- Open Nizhny — All municipal boiler houses in Nizhny Novgorod have successfully begun the heating season
- GIPERNN — Winter is coming. Heating has been started in almost 6,700 buildings in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
- GTRK "Nizhny Novgorod" (Vesti) — Vesti Volga Region — Building management companies are carrying out commissioning work after the start of the heating season (archive)
- GIPERNN — "Even the cats are freezing." Nizhny Novgorod residents complain of cold in their apartments
- GIPERNN — "The building won't warm up anymore." Nizhny Novgorod residents ask for heating to be turned on in their apartments
- 52.ru (Nizhny Novgorod) — The heating season in Nizhny Novgorod: hotline and heat supply deadlines — September 21, 2026
- nn.aif.ru — The heating season began in Nizhny Novgorod on September 21 — AiF Nizhny Novgorod
- realty.rbc.ru — When heating will be turned on in Nizhny Novgorod and the Region in 2026 — RBC Real Estate (archive)